


Dancing Mad

by TheRedHero11037



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M, Self-indulgent fluff, Swing Dancing, one mention of tifa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 06:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4596774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRedHero11037/pseuds/TheRedHero11037
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nibelheim throws a party for its visitors to unwind at. Cloud gets jealous of all the attention Zack gets and goes out to get a little himself.</p><p>Set during the Nibelheim mission but can kind of be read as a standalone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dancing Mad

Cloud Strife was angry.

 

Well, actually, he wasn’t angry. He was seethingly, burningly pissed, rage boiling like a mako reactor in his chest. He was seventeen kinds of jealous. He couldn’t get a wink of sleep. He was tired and tipsy and  a bunch of other emotions that could be dwarves in an edgy retelling of Snow White, but angry was easier to say.

 

There was a party raging on in the square since everyone wanted to give the SOLDIER Firsts a warm welcome and, this being Nibelheim, a warm welcome meant pounding back drinks and music loud enough to shake the town. It was a combination that many other infantrymen would die for, but it was torture when you’re trying to pretend you’re not ashamed to be on the same continent as the party two blocks away from your house.

 

Cloud had already left the party. He didn’t want to be discovered, so he had thrown back three shots of god knows what and made it back home. He just wanted to sleep now, but when you live in the middle of nowhere, parties are rare, cherished things that last for hours. Sometimes they even went for days. Cloud’s mother was downstairs trying to watch TV to drown out the thrumming bass of the music. If only he could fall asleep as easily as she did.

 

His phone buzzed. It was Zack again, sending him more pictures of the party. He was dancing with a new girl in each picture, and on occasion taking pictures of the huge crowd. Almost everyone in town was there, it seemed. This picture was a dancing picture, and shot Cloud through with a wave of paranoia. The girl looked like his childhood crush, and now his current crush was smiling at the shitty cellphone camera with her. He was trying to steal her, or she was trying to steal him. Something like that. His brain knew it was completely irrational. Hell, Zack had a girl waiting back in Midgar, maybe, but the alcohol shot that inkling in the face and ran with the assumptions.

 

Cloud had to go back to that party. God damn it. Even if Cloud Strife couldn’t show his face in Nibelheim, he had to go back to that party. How? His brain raced. How do people sneak into places. Disguises? A disguise would work; everyone there would be drunk anyway.

 

Cloud picked up his helmet. That would be the easiest part. The actual clothes of the outfit would be more difficult. He opened his closet, then closed it. No, people would recognize those clothes. He wobbled to his feet and stumbled down the hall to his mother’s room. The thrum of the bass still rattled the house as he opened her closet and turned on the light.

 

Ordinarily, being as short and skinny as your mother was a bad thing, but Cloud felt lucky that he could squeeze into even one of her flowing formal dresses. The only one he found that barely fit was jet black with a mermaid cut. He wriggled his way into it and headed back to his room. Was he clean-shaven enough to pass as a woman? He ran his fingers over his chin. Again, he was lucky, but he’d bring his scarf, just in case. Helmet, scarf, boots, and an immaculate black dress. What a sight he’d be clomping onto the dance floor.

 

What a sight Cloud was in his patchwork outfit. Shin-Ra issue infantry boots under the most expensive thing he’d worn in the last two and a half years. Zack was not hard to find in the crowd of dancers, either; Cloud could pick his spiky mess out of any crowd. Cloud found him and clung to his arm. Zack smiled and took one of Cloud’s hands.

  
“Here for a dance?” Zack’s voice cut through the crowd. He wore a tee shirt and jeans. Cloud suddenly felt very silly in his fancy dress and Shin-Ra helmet. He was terribly overdressed, but another question from Zack distracted him. “Your dress is saying that you’re a swing fan, that so?”

 

Cloud nodded. He had never done swing in his life. Maybe he had misheard because of his pounding heart. Zack’s smile convinced him that he was indeed a swing fan, and he could do it, and Zack was every reason to give it a goddamn go. Zack took Cloud’s other hand. “I hope you don’t mind being tossed around, hot stuff, and I hope you don’t mind if I’m handsy. It’s for safety’s sake.”

 

Cloud leaned in against Zack’s warm, muscular chest and bumped the sights of his helmet against Zack’s stupidly alluring collarbone. Zack’s hand slid over the small of Cloud’s back, and Cloud knew he wouldn’t mind a thing Zack did to him. He let his grip on Zack’s other hand tell the SOLDIER just that.

 

The music started up and Zack whispered out the 1-2, 3-4, 5, 6 of his count before starting fast. He dragged Cloud along for the ride as Cloud tried his best. It felt like more of a run, which was still not fun even in Zack’s arms. Zack spun him out, back in, curled an arm around his waist, and swung him right off the ground. Cloud picked himself out of his confusion and watched the other couples for a vague idea of what to do. He could do this.

 

Zack noticed Cloud’s lack of talent, too, or so it seemed. He slowed and dropped it down to a four count. Cloud could follow that much more easily, and soon Zack had tossed him through the whole dance. There was even a little applause as Zack scooped him up into the final pose. Cloud kicked his legs out and let his skirt fall up past his scarred knees. He turned to watch Zack’s face.

 

Zack’s smile was as unwavering as the grip on Cloud’s thighs that shot a shiver down Cloud’s spine. Zack winked at him. “You know,” he began as he set Cloud back down. He still held onto Cloud’s hand. “I wasn’t going to do this, but I gotta ask you for another dance. This was supposed to be the last dance before I went to bed, but…” His gentle grin broke through into giggles. “You’re just such an awful dancer! I have to make sure you can do it right!”  
  
The crowd laughed. Cloud attempted to disappear behind his scarf, but Zack pulled it back down. “No no, you don’t have to hide. Your smile is too cute to hide like that. I’m just going to teach you a couple things, I promise. So will you let me have just one more dance with you?” His mako blue eyes were big and genuine; truly the most begging of puppy dog eyes. Cloud would have to be pure evil to turn those down. He nodded slowly.

 

Zack began that slower count again and told Cloud to copy his foxtrot step. With each flowing move, he leaned in to whisper its name into Cloud’s ear. Cloud didn’t know how Zack could remember all of them. The only ones he managed to pick up were “turning basic”, “butterfly”, “cradle”, and “sweetheart”, though that last one might have just been Zack calling him a sweetheart, judging by the warmth on his hip and the breath in his ear as Zack swung him through the air.

 

The dance was over far too soon, but the applause they got this time was much louder and more genuine. Zack set Cloud back on his feet and led him out of the crowd. They were still hand in hand, a thought that Cloud’s mile-a-minute heartbeat wouldn’t let him forget. They went pretty far before Cloud stopped. Zack looked confused.

 

“What? Are you not allowed to go home past midnight, Cloud?” he joked.

 

Cloud wasn’t laughing though. He went sheet-white. “How’d you know it was me?” he breathed.

 

Zack shrugged. “It wasn’t too hard. You were the only one covering your face, just like you have been this whole trip. I had some doubts at first, but I figured it out when I saw your legs. You told me before they’re all scarred up, and the crowd only helped by saying ‘she’s got legs like Strife!’ I assumed that meant you. And I was right!” Zack poked Cloud’s jaw.

 

Cloud sighed and took of his helmet. “Yeah, you were. I can’t believe you went through two dances with me even though you knew.”  
  
Zack let out a bark of laughter. “Is it that unbelievable? Shit, Spike, you wound me! I went through two dances with you _because_ I knew!” Cloud’s cheeks burned, and not just because of how hot that helmet got. Zack stopped to wrap him in a hug. “We should dance more often. That was a lot of fun.”  
  
“Yeah. I’d like that a lot,” Cloud mumbled into Zack’s neck. “You’re a really good dancer.”

  
“Then it’s settled,” Zack cheered as he bent down to press his forehead to Cloud’s. “Next time there’s music, you owe me a dance.”, you owe me a dance.”


End file.
